Far North power outages – Update #6: 0600 hrs 10/7/14

Top Energy line repair
crews working in shifts in difficult conditions brought
3,500 Far North households back online late yesterday
afternoon and into the evening, with the result that at
0600hrs this morning approximately 7,500 Far North
households are without power, down from the 11,000 at
1615hrs yesterday.

Two thirds of those off supply are in
the northern part of the region, where the damage has been
more extensive.

Today crews will continue to focus on
restoring the 33,000 volt (33kV) ‘main feeder lines’
that bring electricity to sub-stations before it is
distributed to individual properties. The next step is to
repair the 11,000 volt distribution lines and finally the
smaller lines and individual ‘no power’ faults.

Crews
will be back out at daylight but continue to experience very
heavy rain and high winds across the region.

A small
window of clear weather yesterday in which Top Energy was
able to get a helicopter in the air to survey the damage and
locate the main feeder faults has proved critical to its
success in being able to ‘sectionalise’ damaged feeder
lines and prioritise the areas requiring work.

Crews from
Counties Power and WEL, will be working with Top Energy
teams today in the northern part of the region.

The
company is reinforcing the point that its priority today
remains the repair of main 33kV and 11kV feeder lines and
that means that while customers might see crews working near
them they are not necessarily working on their particular
servicelines, but we will come back to these as soon as
possible.

The company is also warning that some customers
who don’t yet have power may face a third night without
it.

The areas that continue to be most impacted by the
outages are Pukenui, Awanui, Te Kao, Te Hapua, Mahiniapua,
Peria and Towai.

“We’re gutted that, by the time
supplies are fully restored, a significant chunk of the Far
North will end up having been without power for two,
possibly even three nights,” said Top Energy CEO Russell
Shaw.

“We lost 75 percent of supply to the Far North
supplied from Kaitaia and 25 percent to the Mid North
supplied from Kaikohe.”

“We’ve had to fix the
higher voltage lines to re-energise the substations before
we can turn to the lines feeding individual areas and
properties.”

People with queries about the status of
repairs to their lines should contact the Top Energy call
centre on 0800 867363.

Repairs are being hampered by
significant access issues as many trees have been downed
across the region’s roads and there is extensive
flooding.

“Our lines staff have had to chop trees off
roads just so we can get to the lines,” Shaw said.

The
storm is the most severe event that Top Energy has
experienced for at least a decade and the scale of the
damage to the network, across the entire region, is immense.
Significantly, this extends beyond wires to include poles
and other structures. Sturdy concrete electricity poles have
been blown down and even snapped and large 50-60 year-old
trees have been blown down across lines and access roads.
Winds gusting up to 160 km/hr have ripped lines out of the
cross-arms on electricity poles.

Usually damage to
structures is relatively minor and Top Energy can simply
clear tree debris and pull wires back up. But in this case
the structural damage will increase repair time
significantly. Repairs may be further hampered by more heavy
rain and winds of up to 130 km/hr forecast for this
afternoon and this evening.

“Our customers across the
Far North have been terrific,” Shaw said. “They’ve
been hugely patient and immensely understanding. They need
to know that we’re working tirelessly, within the limits
of safety, to restore their electricity supplies.”

Top
Energy is reassuring those who continue to experience a
power outage that the company is aware of all the main lines
that still need to be repaired and will send crews to these
sites as soon as possible.

If anyone is aware of any
at-risk or seriously ill people who are suffering through
the lack of power they should contact emergency services on
111 as soon as possible.

Top Energy is asking members of
the public to remain clear of downed powerlines at all
times, to keep other people clear and also to keep animals
away. That fact that the school holidays are on makes this
safety request even more significant – parents are being
asked to treat all downed power lines as live and to ensure
that children are warned about lines on the ground and kept
clear.

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